Five times I've coached against the Springboks and every time it's been the same. Home and away with Wales and now with the Lions in Durban, the Boks have come out of the blocks at 100mph, got an early lead, then switched to a kicking game which gives them the cushion of territory before we get within touching distance at the end.

It hurts and it's got to stop. It's said that Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria – the home of the Blue Bulls – is the hardest ground on the international circuit to get a result, but somehow the Lions have got to be close to the Boks after 30 minutes and even closer when tomorrow's second Test enters the final 20 minutes. Then I believe we have a better than evens chance of pulling off the victory needed to level the series with Johannesburg to go.

How do we go about it? Well to start with, we won't be going up to Pretoria until Friday night. It's something like 4,500ft up in the clouds, not as high as Johannesburg and with a milder climate, but high enough for altitude to really matter, and the accepted wisdom is that you either give yourself eight days in which to acclimatise – which is obviously not possible with our itinerary – or you arrive within 24 hours of the kick-off.

Then there is the team we have picked to do the job and particularly the role of Simon Shaw. At close on 36 years old, I think this is probably the 16th time Simon has worn the red of a British and Irish Lion, but only the first time he's started in a Lions Test.

It was the same with England; his Test career had a stuttering start under Sir Clive Woodward (I think the argument was something along the lines of being too similar to Martin Johnson, which most coaches wouldn't consider to be too bad an attribute), but he's a big strong second row who is comfortable with the ball in hand and who might give us a bit of added benefit when it comes to keeping the scrum stable and stopping the rolling maul.

The front row of the scrum may have been remodelled with Adam Jones coming in for Phil Vickery at tight-head prop and Matthew Rees replacing Lee Mears at hooker – a bit of extra weight there – but it's not just the front rows that matter. I'm acutely aware that I'm trespassing on someone else's territory – Graham Rowntree is the Lions scrum doctor – but you don't have to have cauliflower ears and weigh 18 stone to realise that the oomph coming through from the second row is pretty important as well.

Look at the Boks. It wasn't just their loosehead, Tendai Mtawarira, The Beast, who was making life difficult. Over 120kg of Bakkies Botha had something to do with it, as did 112kg of the hooker Bismarck du Plessis, particularly when the Lions had the put-in. Shaw's 123 kilos certainly help redress the balance.

Then there is the rolling maul and a horrible irony of the ELVs. I hated them and never want to see them return, but had the experiment not been ended the Lions might have done a lot better in Durban; all those full penalties that would have been mere free-kicks a few months ago and the rolling maul that so hurt early in the second half.

ELVs allowed the maul to be pulled down whereas now we have to re-learn the techniques of stopping it in its tracks. This week the forwards have been working hard to get the recipe right, and it's no secret that mauling or stopping the maul is one of Simon's strengths.

We are also putting a lot of faith in the various combinations that yesterday's selection offers: the all-Irish back three and the Welsh front row to go with the Welsh half-backs. I don't think it is unfair to say that in Durban we played most of the rugby. We made the game breaks and probably frittered away at least three tries.

Ultimately, though, it was that nightmare bad start that killed us as it has done Wales in the recent past. When the Boks get ahead, their scramble defence makes it so difficult to get back at them. Getting over the line is only 50 per cent of scoring with guys like Bakkies Botha about. However, Saturday proved we have the weapons to wound. Now it's a matter of staying close enough to land the telling blows.